Glossary
Newly introduced, uncommon, or specialized terms used on the No Man's Sky Wiki to describe phenomena in the game. Rationale Given the procedural nature of No Man's Sky, there are things in the game that have no Earth analogy or the terminology used on Earth causes confusion instead of clarification. In these cases the editors of this wiki have strayed from common usage. Biology terms On Earth, 'vertebrates' are distinguished from 'invertebrates' by internal anatomy but in No Man's Sky ''(NMS), only external morphology is available. We have adopted the terms however, because we know that rigs for binomial animals are based on a limited set of known vertebrate skeletons and invertebrate exoskeletons, whilst simple butterfly models are used for some anomial animals. Further, on Earth there are no known six-limbed vertebrates, and the term 'hexapod' refers only to invertebrates. Similarly, there are no known two-limbed invertebrates and the term 'biped' refers only to vertebrates. The term 'octopod' also only refers to invertebrates. However, the term 'tetrapod' refers to vertebrates. In NMS, the character will encounter six-limbed vertebrates. To differentiate them from invertebrates, the term 'hexaped' is used. Given that the wiki editors are only using Earth as an analogy for NMS biology, the term 'tetraped' has been coined to distinguish vertebrates from invertebrates (allocated the term 'tetrapod'). This enables the editors to use a single suite of endings (-ped'') for vertebrates and another (''-pod'') for invertebrates. Abbreviations ;NMS: No Man's Sky ; NPC: a non-player character. Suffixes ;-ibe/-ite: (Geology) a complex mineral structure, not looking like a flower, with a mononomial name, yielding a non-carbon resource. ;-oid: (Biology) meaning resembling. ;-ped: for vertebrates. ;-pod: for invertebrates. List of terms ; Animal: a mobile (non-fixed), anomial or binomial faunal organism. ; Anomial: a species which the game encyclopedia does not name or allow to be named. ; Aquatic: living in a liquid (e.g. water). ; Asteroid belt: A type of asteroid field that encircles a planet. ; Asteroid field: Any grouping of asteroids. ; Binomial: a two word name. ; Biped: a non-NPC vertebrate mainly walking on two limbs. ; Bipod: an invertebrate mainly walking on two limbs. ; Commensal: living fixed to another organism. ; Coralloid: an anomial, living, sessile (fixed), fully marine lump. ; Decapod: an invertebrate animal with ten body limbs or pincers (not including those on head or neck). ; Detrital: living fixed to the ground. ; Diurnal: mobile in the day time. ; Fungoid: an anomial, living, sessile (fixed), terrestrial or subterranean, floral lump. ; Geovore: an animal which eats minerals. ; Hexaped: a vertebrate animal with six limbs. ; Hexapod: an invertebrate animal with six body limbs or pincers (not including those on head or neck). ; Invertebrate: an animal without a jaw, and limb origins (if any) clustered near a central point. ; Kingdoms: (Biology) the most basal branches of life. ; Mononomial: a one word name. ; Monoped: a hopping vertebrate animal. ; Nocturnal: mobile in the night time. ; Octapod: an invertebrate animal with eight body limbs or pincers (not including those on head or neck). ; Pedipalp: pincer or probing appendage on the neck of an invertebrate (not including those on the body or mouth). ; Plant: a sessile (fixed), non-fungoid, non-Coralloid (if fully marine), floral organism (including binomial lumps). ; Pretarsus: the end segment of an invertebrate leg. ; Sol: one complete day/night cycle on any given planet or moon. ; Species: (Biology) any type of living, non-human, non-NPC, binomial or anomial organism. ; Species: (NPC) any type of Non-Playing Character. ; Subterranean: below ground. ; Terrestrial: above ground. ; Tetraped: a vertebrate animal mainly walking on four limbs. ; Tetrapod: an invertebrate animal mainly walking on four limbs. ; Type specimen: details of the first specimen used to describe a particular species. ; Vertebrate: an animal with a jaw, and limb or fin origins (if any) well separated. ; Zeroped: a slithering vertebrate animal. Category:Content